South Africa Pt 1

South Africa has to be one of the most incredible places that I have ever visited. As you journey into the wilderness of the bush you are entering a completely different world. A world devoid of the hustle and bustle of city life, devoid of electricity and other utilities, but rich in raw and natural beauty.

I went to train how to interpret nature, how to read signs and how to create memories. I went to train as a Safari Guide.

The flight to South Africa wasn’t the nicest I’ve ever been on. Well the first connection between Heathrow and Charles de Gaul wasn’t so bad. But following this was the longest flight I’ve experienced. Eleven hours it took to get to Jo’burg, and thanks to the ever unstable tropics the seatbelt light never went out. This wouldn’t have been so bad had my seat not been small, cramped and in front of the toilet, but hey, I’m sure it could have been worse…maybe. However, the bonus of such long flights is that they do serve regular meals and drinks. Thus once ever hour or so my morale was raised slightly.

It was five am local time as we begun the descent over the city, the view was amazing as it always is when flying at night. As we got closer to the ground small lights could be made out to be houses, and then cars driving around as if on some tiny scalextric set.

The plane shook violently; we had landed, although it was not an entire success. The plane bounced and took off again for a few hundred meters and then came down with a mightier thud than last time. The whir of the reverse thrusters engaged and we began to slow down. It felt like after eleven hours I could breath again.

The airport was quiet, as you expect anywhere to be at this unearthly hour of the morning. This suited me perfectly as it let me slip through customs with thousands of pounds of equipment without any hassle. Almost silently the passengers and I moved through those movements, almost automatically, of passport checks and baggage collection. Then I walked out into the arrivals area of the airport. Looking around I tried to find a sign that would direct me to the domestic terminal. This momentary look of confusion is risky business abroad, and sure enough I was picked up on it by the porters. “Come with, come with…” Every warning about going off with strange people jumped into my mind, but then I really did have no clue where to go, and his orange boiler suit made him look like he was meant to help. As I was lead out of the airport over to the correct terminal he started telling me about his country and what it holds. After this five or ten minutes walk we were at the check in desk. He turned to me and looked down with his hand outstretched. “Can you make me a tip?” I told him I only had sterling, gave him a few coins and he scurried off.

Desperate for a good cuppa tea I checked through security with all haste and made for the first coffee shop. Happily surprised at the cheap cost of beverages a bought my tea and took a seat, shortly to be joined by a gentleman from Cape Town. He asked me why I was over here and we got chatting about the bush, Kruger Park and what I can expect to see.

After five hours of really doing nothing at all it was time to walk out to the plane. It was a tiny propeller driven machine, and I can’t say I trusted it. Thankfully the flight was short, only an hour, touch down came just after lunch.

The airport was near a town called Hoedspruit, and it was basically a hut with chairs, but nevertheless comfortable. A few of us began to gather in groups as we got more confident with our surroundings. Soon there were six or seven of us, all waiting for the ground transfer, happily chatting and getting a measure of each other. Close by, within the compound of the airport there was a creature I could recognise, but had never before seen. It was a warthog, happily munching away on whatever it could find. It looked so relaxed and it was very tempting to approach and maybe even touch him, but the urge was resisted which was probably good for us.

Another flight came in, and this brought the compliment of students up to a healthy sixteen, although seven of them would not stay throughout the entire course...

The mini bus ride to the gates of Karongwe Reserve was uneventful and everyone politely chatted with each other as the savanna flew by the windows. Occasional gasps of excitement arose as Giraffe and other creatures were spotted, but it was surprising how quickly these animals become a common sight, although they never lost their impressiveness.

The barbed boarders of the reserve continued to flash by, the mini bus slowed, the blur of green we had been watched changed to from exotic vegetation, the vehicle turned, and we drove up to the gates of where home was to be for the next month.

A Night Of Dance And Floor

Friday night was what is known as a “good night”. For those of you that don’t know Friday 12^th of May was the date of our school prom. The last party that was to include the full school.

So…where to start…well…

Friday was an excellently sunny day which was warm and bright. So after school was out at quarter to twelve due to sports day, so I headed on down to the river for a spot of Frisbee. What a great summer past time that is!

At about six Ryan and I headed up to my house to get ready. Yes, I know, we only needed about half an hour…that may astound many girls out there. Especially those who take DAYS! So after half an hour we looked like we’re were going somewhere posh, ready to rock it up.

Cazy arrived at about seven or so looking fantastic, and after a quick photo shoot the taxi came. The journey there was a bit of a mini adventure. The cab driver had forgotten to put water in the radiator, so with an engine running at 120 degrees Celsius we thought it best to stop. However we arrived in good time so that was ok.

At the venue (The Hilton, Bracknell) I got to meet my two best friends’ new girlfriends (both of which soon had the stamp of approval). They were both very nice which is always cool. I particularly got on with Jules’ girlfriend, as she didn’t find my drunkenness too bad as the night went on and would dance with me. It wasn’t long before good tunes came on played by a band that wasn’t too bad at all and thus the dancing was well under way early on. And as the dancing went on I started to drink more and more….which was to be my downfall on this particular evening.

After a few hours of dancing I was definitely very drunk. You may have noticed that I have not mentioned anything I had eaten or meals I had had…the main reason for this, other than it is a fact of pointless interest, was that I hadn’t eaten. Well, that’s a slight lie; I had a pot of yoghurt for breakfast. Now, we all know what a bad idea it is to drink on an empty stomach. So between the hours of about eleven and twelve I have no memory, but I was brought back down to earth sharply by much of the drink leaving my body the same way as it had entered. What is strange is that I’m usually the last person to forget to eat! This was not cool, do not try it!

It did however take somewhere between twelve and fifteen drinks to floor me, which isn’t too bad, given the size of the wine glasses! While taking on the fresh air of Bracknell outside the lobby entrance, supported by countless friends (thanks to all of you), I was waging war in my head. You see, my brain wasn’t too drunk, but my body was so gone. So it was my mind verses my body in one of the best mental battles I have had. People around me reliably told me that I went into what was seen as a worrying, amusing, or in one case impressive state of concentration. After much grunting and groaning I had nearly forced my double vision back to one image. But then I was forced to move, and the images shot apart from each other. And if there is one person that hates to lose…it’s me, and I lost against myself. No fun.

Well, there was definitely a lesson learnt there. Although I do think the worse action of the evening was one particular pair getting it on. But that is just my view, and that of a couple of other people.

Lastly I must in particular thank Cazy for her excellent state of worry and care, Julian for the lift home, and most of all Ryan for ensuring I made it alive.

J.

A Weekend Of Wood

It's been a while since I’ve written an entry, and I doubt this one will be particularly long either. There is too much work to be done!

Last week was fairly standard, work, tests and revision. Nothing fantastic. However my weekend is something to mention.

Saturday

Spent this day trying to work out how to get some branches that were about 30 feet high, several meters long, and some up to half a foot thick off a tree. Not because they were dead, but because my mum wanted to “open up the garden”. We cut the lower ones off with a saw / axe – no big deal. But then how to get the higher ones down? The first plan was climbing into the tree and cutting them down....no can do – danger factor. Next plan…some kind of extendable chainsaw? My Dad hired one, but it was a girls tool, no good for cutting anything. In the mean time I had managed to throw a rope up and over one of the higher branches and tie it. Of course without cutting there is no way to get the rope down. But then me and my brother started to joke about just pulling the rope, and therefore the branch, straight off the tree….and my Dad made the always fatal mistake of telling me it can’t be done.

So with the nylon rope tied around my waist and my brother holding on, we ran away from the tree as fast as we could….and in the end…SNAP! The whole branch came down! We were mighty proud. So we repeated with many other branches, but they got harder and harder, as they got longer and longer. Firstly because I had to throw about 60 foot of thick rope into the air that was attached to a log that was about 3kg AND aim it to fall over a branch 30 foot up. And secondly because we were trying to pull down longer, thicker and generally tougher ones. But we were victorious! Thus ended the day.

Sunday

Sunday was started dull and got better. I decided to head up to the bluebell wood in the evening with Rose to take some pictures before they all disappear, even though it was overcast and raining! They were putting on a pretty impressive display of colour despite the conditions. However I managed to muck up a lot of the pictures due to the very low light levels, and using a lens that demands bright sunshine. However here you can see a couple of the best.

After admiring the natural beauty surrounding us we got down to being big kids. This included chucking pine cones at each other, finding sticks to hit against trees and of course hiding. After exhausting this activity we went to find the biggest logs possible and lift them. Here is Rose’s attempt (for those of you wondering…look at the background for your answer!):

My (more genuine) attempt at lifting logs shall be put up at a later date. It was good fun, and probably a very silly thing to do, which makes it better really!

Then after this we took the long way home as it was a lovely evening, but mostly as I miss judged the distance. So ended our lovely evening. Oh, no, just after that I was cheated out of a cuppa tea! Damn you Rose!

J.

Tuesday May 2nd

Today was a fairly average kind of day, although, it has to be said...I hope up on time today!!! Woo! But then Ryan was ill, so he failed to witness this miracle.

School went as follows:

First lesson: Spent 10 mins telling my physics teacher he was old, then fell asleep for the rest. Well, I listened really to be honest.

Second lesson: We found out today that due to "unforeseen circumstances" our teacher will not be returning to us for the rest of the year. Great. Ok, so he's a rubbish teacher, but some teacher is better than none. Plus he's a good bloke, I hope he's ok.

Free Period: Spent most of this owning Jules at a water fight...fun!

Third lesson: Chemistry, a bit dull really, got given three papers and told to do them. Wooo fun.

After school was a lot more fun. Dropped down to Ryan's house to see how he was, and finish watching the scrubs he had on his machine. They are funny, but very sad :-(. Then after a bit of chit chat I ran on down to the rowing club. Did one of my longest ergs ever today...14km. Took 58min 35secs. But I held a split of about 2:05, so I was pretty happy, and not a bad burn out at the end.

And now I'm here, very tired, but relaxed.

Hope you all had good days.

J.

May Bank Holiday Weekend

Not that much to say really. You heard about Saturday and the early hours of Sunday morning in the last entry.

So what has happened since...Well, Sunday I woke up late again. I miss rowing at the weekends, but at the moment I have to knuckle down with my work, so it just means more long ergs during the week. I wrote what I hope was half decent essay. Although it was on transport economics, so I'm sure it had little or no point. So Sunday was a waste of a day really. I prefer revising when I'm at school. I've also right this second decided to impose a ban on myself. I shall not use my laptop before 6pm when I am on study leave and though the exam period. You are all witness to that.

Sunday night I was told Charmaine had given up work at the pub, which is a real shame. But if the management are going to be so stupid, then they are going to lose amazing people. First Marlena, and now her, who next is the question??? Although I think I have a fair idea of who it could be. I shall do my very best to keep in touch with both of them.

Monday...well much the same really, except I watched George of the Jungle which I thought was brill. Although not so many people seem to agree with me. Other good news of the day is that there is now food in the house! Wooo! And I get to erg tomorrow! How much fun?!

Anyway school tomorrow. I bid you all farewell.

J.

Its Party Time...Or Not....

So something terrible happened today, although I'm not so sure how bad it is. I was heading up to a party today at a mates house. But when I arrived there was one other person waiting, and no host to be seen. So we waited...and waited...Then some girl rolled up in a car and asked us if we were going to the party. After we confirmed this she told us that Dave had been involved in a car accident and he was in a bad way in hospital! How horrible is that?!

So we departed, there was nothing I could do. Not wanting to waste my evening however I buzzed Ryan and rolled on down to his pad, picking up some bits from the chippy on the way. We settled down and watched a film (Danny the Dog) and then we had our regular man to man talk/whine. Time flies when you’re having fun, so I started to wonder home at about 1:30am. I was texting Cazy on the way up, but she’s stopped. I have a feeling she feel asleep as I bored her so much.

I'm reasonable proud of myself today though. After waking up at about lunch time I did manage to write an economics essay and do a bit of revision. Although when it came to tennis I was a bit lame. But having Stephanie trying to face serves with the back of her head as she had become interested in a particularly dull dust particle that was floating on the evening breeze was no help, not when she’s your doubles partner at least.

I’m not so sure what I’m going to do now, its 2:30am and I’m very much awake….hmmm...

J.

Ramblings of the Week

This week the sun has finally come out, giving me a good excuse to nip down to Tescos and buy a £5 pair of sunglasses. Pretty good value if you ask me. I've been on the rowing ergo twice this week, once on Tuesday and once on Wednesday. I'm seeing improvment :-). Thursday saw me in the stroke seat of a novice four, but they were pretty good and it was a beautiful evening to be on the water.

On Wednesday I also got to cox/coach the Reading School crew. They're a little bit crap, but after alot of shouting at them they were rowing in time....nearly. They seemed to hate me anyway, so I had no guilty feelings when I got them to row at full pressure for over 2km. Tis nothing really...but they are all wet girls blouses.

This week I also got the title "A bastard coated bastard with bastard filling" from Westy. I was quite proud of that, has a cool ring to it.

Work tonight was alright. The customers were all happy, but we just didn't feel like we were totally in control, as we should have been. So for us staff it wasn't so great. But hey! The bank holiday weekend is upon us! Although that means lots of sleep and hopefully a party, it also means lots of revision for those A-levels. Getting close to the point where I want to worry about them. I so don't want to screw them up.

Anyho, its too early in the morning, and Ryan and I have been arguing over who's there better friend. Actually the best mate ever - making university a real pain in the bum. Not to mention the whole host of other people that I'm going to be bummed out about leaving. I'm not going to do a soppy friend post, at least not now, you know who you are! But enough of the depressing, its time for me to say...

Goodnight.

J.